Burgers are one of our favorite foods. Meatballs are one of our favorite foods. We are huge fans of sausage. We also enjoy making similar dishes at home, so we wondered if we might do a better job.

If you’re serious about ground beef, it’s time to get your hands dirty long before the dish meets the flame. With the right tools and a little time on your hands, grinding meat may be one of the simplest—and most satisfying—kitchen activities you can undertake.

• Keep the meat chilled

For a successful grind, make sure your grinder’s tray (which contains the meat), auger (which looks like a corkscrew), blade (or “cutter”), and plates (which are discs covered in varying kinds of holes) are all clean and cooled. You can keep them in your freezer and use them when you need to ground meat quickly.

• Select Your Meat

When it comes to grinding meat, the cheap, fatty cuts are the best. The tough parts of these cuts don’t work well when roasted, grilled, or sautéed, but they’re easily hidden when ground. While working with beef, chuck is ideal; when working with lamb and hog, the shoulder is ideal.

• Chop Your Meat

Cut your meat into small pieces with a sharp knife; the size of your grinder’s aperture will determine how small you should go, but most at-home grinders will require 1-to-2-inch pieces. Remember to remove the skin if your cut came with it, but leave the majority of the fat attached to the meat.

Freshly chopped meat grinds best when frozen, so spread it out on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover it with plastic wrap, and place it in the freezer for 45 to 60 minutes. The idea is to be cool and hard rather than frozen.

• Whether you go big or small,

Select a plate to attach. The one with larger holes will provide a rougher grind, which is ideal for chili and sauce, and the one with smaller holes will produce a finer grind, which is ideal for sausage.

• Get the meat to the grinder as soon as possible.

Turn on the machine and feed the chilled meat into the grinder’s feeding tube, using a stomper to drive the meat down toward the blade—be careful not to get your fingers too close! Place a bowl beneath the grinder to collect the meat as it comes out. Put your meat back in the freezer for a few minutes if it starts to warm up.

Your oyster is the entire globe. Everything from sausages (in casings or without) and meatballs to meatloaf, burgers, and chili might be made with ground beef. Having the right knowledge on how to make use of the best meat grinder will get you more recipes that you will definitely enjoy.